William Pamplin overview

The majority of his papers were collected and scheduled at the University of Wales, Bangor see here

Born in August 1806 to William Pamplin nurseryman, then in Chelsea and his wife Harriot, nee Dench. The family’s nursery moved to Wandsworth when the then village of Chelsea was developed. The move was probably before 1811 as William’s younger brother Robert was born in 1811 at Lavender Hill. In his father’s diaries it is recorded that young William worked for a wage in the Nursery. In 1827 his list of rare plants of Battersea and Chelsea was published. At some point William left his father’s nursery to work alongside the botanical bookseller John Hunnemann in Queen Street Soho. Hunnemann died in 1839, and William took over the business with John’s daughter Caroline Elizabeth, whom he married in 1840.

In the census of 1841 William and Caroline were living in Queen Street Soho; they had a 15 year old servant Catherine Booth. William was designated ‘Bookseller’. Interestingly, they had staying with them at the time of the census a German Professor of Literature, Gustavus Schulz and a German Clerk, Louis Widermann. Obviously the German connection through Caroline’s family were strong.